These 12 Fashion Designers Are Up for a $400,000 Grant From LVMH

Last November, LVMH announced its inaugural LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers—a 300,000 euro (about $418,000) grant, judged by industry luminaries including Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Raf Simons, Phoebe Philo, and Nicolas Ghesquiere, to help emerging designers grow their businesses. The first batch of 12 finalists—selected from an applicant pool of 1,200—has just been announced. They are: Atto, CG, Gabriele Colangelo, Hood by Air, Jacquemus, Miuniku, Simone Rocha, Suno (above), Thomas Tait, Tillmann Lauterbach, Tim Coppens, and Vika Gazinskaya. This May, each of these designers and labels will have 15 minutes to showcase their fall collections to the judges for a chance to win the massive prize. "I'm sure the contestants are nervous, but at the same time, it's an amazing opportunity to meet all these people," Louis Vuitton EVP Delphine Arnault told Style.com. "Karl started his career after winning a prize, but he told me there were 200,000 applicatns, not 1,200 as we've had. Karl even had to sit and draw in front of the judges to prove that someone else hadn't done his sketches for him." Good luck to all the finalists! We always love seeing major companies support young talent like this.

This May, each of these designers and labels will have 15 minutes to showcase their fall collections to the judges for a chance to win the massive prize.

"I'm sure the contestants are nervous, but at the same time, it's an amazing opportunity to meet all these people," Louis Vuitton EVP Delphine Arnault told Style.com. "Karl started his career after winning a prize, but he told me there were 200,000 applicatns, not 1,200 as we've had. Karl even had to sit and draw in front of the judges to prove that someone else hadn't done his sketches for him."

Good luck to all the finalists! We always love seeing major companies support young talent like this.